Raymond Bernard

[Ann Harding]

Raymond Bernard (1891-1977)


Raymond Bernard with Harry Baur on the set of Les Misérables (1934)

Biography

Raymond Bernard is the youngest son of writer Tristan Bernard. In 1913, he started as a theatre actor with Sarah Bernhardt in one of his father's play Jeanne Doré. He discovers cinema shortly after when the play was filmed by Louis Mercanton. The discovery of DeMille's The Cheat (1915) converted him completely to the new art of cinema. He is Feyder's assistant in a series of short films produced by Léon Gaumont with screenplays by Tristan Bernard. In 1917, Feyder leaves for the front and Bernard is asked to finish the film. He goes on making comedies such Le Petit Café with Max Linder or the delightful Triplepatte, based on his father's plays. In 1924, he directs a big epic, Le Miracle des Loups where he displays a particular flair for directing crowds, superb editing and even hand-held camera shots. Le Joueur d'Echecs in 1927 is also a superb epic film. Bernard adapts quickly to the new medium of talking picture and is asked to produce a French film about WWI to compete with All Quiet on The Western Front (1930) and Westfront 1918 (1930). Les Croix de Bois is shot in 40 nights in gruelling conditions. In 1933, Pathé-Natan ask him to make a new version of Hugo's Les Misérables in 3 parts. The film's budget was enormous and the company didn't recoup the cost. Amond his later 30s films, we can single out Le Coupable with Pierre Blanchar, an harsh study of bourgeois hypocrisy; J'étais une aventurière a comedy about crooks brilliantly performed by Edwige Feuillère and Les Otages which shows a French village occupied by the Germans in 1914. After the war, one of his best pictures is Le Jugement de Dieu, a superb historical reconstruction of a German legend with doomed lovers. His last film, Le septième ciel, is a dark humoured comedy where Danielle Darrieux kills a series of crooks to provide funds for her charities.

Filmography

Le ravin sans fond (1917) co-directed with J. Feyder
Le traitement du hoquet (1918)
Le gentilhomme commerçant (1918)
Le petit café (1919)
Le secret de Rosette Lambert (1920)
La maison vide (1921)
Triplepatte (1922)
L'homme inusable (1923)
Grandeur et décadence (1923)
Le costaud des épinettes (1923)
Le miracle des loups (1924)
Le joueur d'Echecs (1927) (DVD R1 US Milestone )
Tarakanova (1930)
Faubourg Montmartre (1931)
Les croix de bois (1932) (Eclipse DVD set R1 US)
Tartarin de Tarascon (1934) (DVD R2 France Pathé)
Les Misérables (1934) (Eclipse DVD set R1 US)
Amants et voleurs (1935)
Anne-Marie (1935)
Le coupable (1936) (SECAM VHS-PAL compatible)
Marthe Richard au service de la France (1937) (DVD R2 France Canal)
J'étais une aventurière (1938) (SECAM VHS-PAL compatible)
Les otages (1939) (DVD R0 France)
Cavalcade d'amour (1940)
Un ami viendra ce soir (1946) (DVD R2 France Canal Plus)
Adieu Chérie (1945)
Maya (1949) (DVD R2 France)
Le cap de l'espérance (1951)
Le jugement de Dieu (1952)
La dame aux camélias (1953) (SECAM VHS-PAL compatible)
La belle de Cadix (1953) (DVD R2 France René Chateau)
Les fruits de l'été (1954) (SECAM VHS-PAL compatible)
Le septième commandement (1956) (SECAM VHS-PAL Compatible)
Le septième ciel (1957)

[SECAM VHS will play in PAL VCR but only in B&W]

Books:
Eric Bonnefille - Raymond Bernard : Fresques et miniatures (2010, Ed. L'Harmattan)
Anthologie du Cinéma, Vol 11 - Raymond Bernard by Jacques Salles (1983, Ed. L'Avant-Scène)
Le Cinéma Français-Le Muet (P. d'Hugues/M. Marmin/J. Mitry/J. Richard) (1986, Ed. Atlas)

Web resources:
Rediscovery of Le Joueur d'Echecs (The Chess Player) by Kevin Brownlow
William K. Everson on Le Miracle des Loups (Miracle of the Wolves)
William K. Everson on Les Croix de Bois (Wooden Crosses)
Biography and filmography at Films de France
Biography, filmography and bibliography at the Bibliothèque du Film (BiFi)

Forum discussion:
Eclipse Series 4: Raymond Bernard

[Knappen]

A question about Faubourg Montmartre, which is without doubt one of Bernard's lesser films from the 30s.

I didn't get too sucked into the plot while watching, but was surprised by a striking scene at the end that involved some kind of riot in the streets and Antonin Artaud sitting on a wooden horse with a crown on his head. I coudn't really connect it to the rest of the plot. Anyone else seen it? Ann?

[Zazou dans le Metro]

Marthe Richard au service de la France seems to be available on DVD

[Ann Harding]

Hi Knappen, unfortunately I have never seen Faurbourg Montmartre. Thanks Zazie for the info. I will include the link.

My greatest wish would be to see some of his silents on DVD besides Chess Player. I have been lucky enough to see Triplepatte which is a wonderful comedy as rich and funny as any René Clair. Le Miracle des Loups is a marvellous spectacular with some great preformances by Dullin and Vanni-Marcoux.

[Ann Harding]

I just found this long interview on the INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel) website. Raymond Bernard was interviewed in 1973 and talks at length about his father Tristan Bernard as well as his films. He is very eloquent and very moving in places. Sorry! It's all in French, but you have some grasp of the language, watch it. It's fascinating.
Interview Part I
Interview Part II

[HerrSchreck]

Dying to get my hands on a copy of Le miracle des loups (1924)

[jbeall]

Dying to get my hands on a copy of Le miracle des loups (1924)

That's what I'm screamin', man!

It seems to me that if anybody would take a chance on it, it'd be Kino (via Gaumont) or Flicker Alley. I don't care who; somebody needs to get on this, stat.

[HerrSchreck]

I mean, I'm stunned that a copy isn't floating around the usual backchannels from a TV broadcast or something.

Utterly bizarre, I'd gladly settle for a ropey encode from an old VHS or something, just to get the damned thing under my belt. Sheesh.

[Saturnome]

I just found this long interview on the INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel) website. Raymond Bernard was interviewed in 1973 and talks at length about his father Tristan Bernard as well as his films. He is very eloquent and very moving in places. Sorry! It's all in French, but you have some grasp of the language, watch it. It's fascinating.
Interview Part I
Interview Part II

One of the best interview I ever heard ! Thank you. Raymond Bernard is fascinating, his anecdotes are simply wonderful, and pretty much everything he's saying is worth more than gold.

[Ann Harding]

I just found this long interview on the INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel) website. Raymond Bernard was interviewed in 1973 and talks at length about his father Tristan Bernard as well as his films. He is very eloquent and very moving in places. Sorry! It's all in French, but you have some grasp of the language, watch it. It's fascinating.
Interview Part I
Interview Part II

One of the best interview I ever heard ! Thank you. Raymond Bernard is fascinating, his anecdotes are simply wonderful, and pretty much everything he's saying is worth more than gold.

Glad you enjoyed it, Saturnome. He is a great storyteller with a marvellous deadpan humour. Let's hope more of his films will become available on DVD soon.

[Ann Harding]

I just added the reference to the first biography of Raymond Bernard, published recently in France.

[Knappen]

Interesting. I have the two volume Duvivier monography by Bonnefille, which I highly treasure.

[HerrSchreck]

Dammit brother... seeing you'd posted here, I thought maybe you'd managed to unearth a copy of Le Miracle des Loups from under a tree in someone's backyard or something.

[Knappen]

Heh, if I manage to do so I'll add a bonus feature to the DVDR about the unveiling of copy called Le Miracle de Monsieur Bouton.

Got some exciting news on silent Duvs coming up, tho - an Ebay project going on with some of the other Euroboys. Will keep you updated.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I saw at the Cinémathèque one of the rarest Bernard silents.
Le Costaud des Epinettes (lit. The Sturdy Guy from les Epinettes, 1922) is a comedy directed by Raymond Bernard. Before directing big epics such as Le Miracle des Loups (The Miracle of wolves, 1924), Bernard adapted to the screen various comedies from his playwright father, Tristan Bernard. This charming film follows Claude Brévin (Henri Debain) a former gambler, now destitute, who lives near a dive in Montmartre. He is nicknamed the 'costaud des Epinettes' in reference to his ability at martial arts and the name of the local district. He is hired by a blackmailer to recover some compromising letters from a young actress (Germaine Fontanes). He also has to kill her, so as to leave no witness. But, obviously, he is far too nice to commit murder and ends up falling in love with the girl. Henri Debain in the lead reminded me of the young Alec Guinness. He has the same tall and frail body with a slight absent-mindedness, a kind of innocent surrounded by nasties. He was also very good in the title role of Triplepatte (1922), another Bernard comedy. Neverthless, the film suffers from a rather flat narrative lacking in sparkle. A few scenes shone like when Debain recalls his failures in various jobs. We visualize his retelling: he had to accompany children in the streets and forgot about them while reading a book. The film boasted some superb Art-Deco sets by the architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens. The cinematography was gorgeous in the superb tinted print from the CF I saw. The print has dual titles in French/English. The acting overall is excellent, naturalistic and avoiding excesses. It's a shame that the very last scene was missing (presumably lost) though it was easy to imagine the outcome. Overall it's not a major Bernard picture, but it made me want to see Triplepatte again.

About the Bonnefille biography, I read it recently. It's a well reasearched bio-filmography containing masses of references to contemporary reviews. In biographical terms, it remains rather shallow. Unfortunately, Bernard's widow kept only parts of his archives. So what is left now is only scant. I would certainly recommend the book if you are interested by Bernard. It's a shame the author is obviously not very familiar with the silent period. His lack of comments on the previous versions of Les Misérables or Le Coupable is disappointing.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Pathe France working on a restoration of Les Miserables presumably for a 2012 release. Le Samourai coming on blu 7the December. No specs yet.

[SamLowry]

If there's one Eclipse title I'd love to see get its own blu ray, it's Les Miserables. Hopefully the announcement of a new restoration makes this a possibility.

[HerrSchreck]

THE CHESS PLAYER could certainly use a new scrubbing as well, british restoration on that old Milestone dvd was old even by the time the dvd came out. . . talk about a blazing all wheels turning masterpiece!

And of course we're here still years later and no copy ofMiiracle of the Wolves has been found by me yet.

And I tell you all right now, if it comes out with the intertitles translated into english I will not (not) watch it. I'll wait another 10 years.

[Tommaso]

I suppose you speak French now, Schreck?

[HerrSchreck]

[being a huge smartass] No, not a word.. I just like how serious about cinema that kind of behavior makes me appear[/being a huge smartass]

[HerrSchreck]

You should have seen David and my crosscutting stage retrospective of both the German and French versions of Lang's Testament of Dr Mabuse at the famous Institut de la Canard (on the sidestreet off of Rue d' Imp) . . . people threw so many vegetables on the stage that a glorious szechuan stir fry was had by all, including the raging producers and shadow investors (who indeed never left the shadows).

Glory!

[Tommaso]

Too bad you didn't do "The Three Penny Opera". One of you guys in the role of Margo Lion would have been ...ahm...just pick your adjective.

[HerrSchreck]

Yes, Neph (that's Knappen to the rest of the world except his family, and I, to whom he is simply little brother) can glug outrageous quantities of yeast shit (that's alcohol to everybody but Kurt Vonnegut in BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS), and go from pre-professorial Scandi to tottering slurring swag with a rapidity that could stun a Koenigsegg roadster.

I'm very proud of that about him.

[HerrSchreck]

A veritable blur of suede elbow patches over safe professorial tweed!

[Ann Harding]

According to Jérôme Soulet from Gaumont, there is a plan to release 3 Raymond Bernard silents in the last quarter of 2012. No details regarding the titles. But, I would guess that Le miracle des loups, Le joueur d'échecs and Tarakanova are probably the titles in question. I'll keep you informed when more details become available.